Tag Archives: god loves you

October 20, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Unfailing Love

One of the hardest things for us to understand is God’s love. There is nothing you can do to earn God’s love or to make Him love you more. There’s nothing you can do to make Him love you less than He does right now. In fact, Romans 8 tells us that there’s nothing in all of creation that can separate us from His love. It truly is unfailing. You are loved by your creator just the way you are. He sees your fears, your imperfections and your past, and He loves you still. Every day you wake up under the banner of His love for you. Don’t let this imperfect world full of imperfect people blind you to His unfailing love. It will rescue you, support you, pursue you and redeem you. Live your life today and everyday knowing that you are loved and let that love change you and your world.

Here are some Bible verses on God’s unfailing love.

1. Return, O Lord, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing love.

Psalms 6:4 NLT

2. I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.

Psalms 94:18 NLT

3. Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord.

Psalms 23:6 AMP

4. The Lord loves seeing justice on the earth. Anywhere and everywhere you can find his faithful, unfailing love!

Psalms 33:5 TPT

5. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!

Psalms 63:3 NLT

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October 18, 2023 · 5:43 AM

God Values You

I’ve been with people in the darkest moment of their life. Each time I get the call when they say they’ve reached their limit and life isn’t worth living, I begin to pray to ask God what to say. I ask Him to fight for their life through me. Because of that, I’ve been in some tough battles to keep them alive. The lies that the enemy is telling them are so loud in their mind and so believable that they can’t hear me at times. I remind them that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but God brings abundant life. I remind them how much they’re loved by Him. I stay with them as long as it takes for them to get a breakthrough which can sometimes be a while. God doesn’t want anyone to perish. He loves and values each life.

When you think of a shepherd, do you have the image of a peaceful, quiet person roaming the hillside with their staff? That’s how I picture it, but honestly, they’re warriors who fight for their sheep like God does. Look in 1 Samuel 17 where David has heard Goliath threaten God’s flock. He’s ready to go fight a guy twice his size and who has been a warrior since he was young. Saul had the same image of a shepherd that I do and didn’t want to let him fight. “But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and attacked it and rescued the lamb from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I seized it by its whiskers and struck and killed it’” (1 Samuel 17:24-24 AMP). A shepherd loves and values the life of each sheep and doesn’t want any to perish.

Exodus 14:14 says, “The Lord will fight for you while you [only need to] keep silent and remain calm.” God will fight the enemy of your would because He is a good shepherd. He values you and your life. The voices that tell you otherwise are not from God. He is your shepherd who wants to lead you to restore your soul in His green pastures. He wants to renew your strength and to guide you to His paths. Even when you pass through the darkest valleys of life under the shadow of death, He will guide, protect and fight for you with His rod and His staff. He will prepare a feast for you in the presence of the enemy of your soul and give you the blessings of goodness and mercy to follow you the rest of your life. He won’t sit idly by when it comes to your soul because you are valued and prized. He will leave the 99 to fight for you because He is a warrior who loves you.

Photo by POOYAN ESHTIAGHI on Unsplash

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June 8, 2023 · 5:30 AM

God Likes You

Some verses in the Bible have so much packed into them that you just have to stop and chew on them for a while. Zephaniah 3:17 is one of those verses. It says, “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs” (NLT). Think about that verse for a minute. Some versions say, “God is present with you” (MSG) or “God is with you” (GNT). No matter what version, it’s important to know that wherever you go, whatever you do, God is there, present with you in each situation. We just need to learn to be more aware of His presence in our day.

From John 3:16, we know that God loves us. We’re taught that as a kid, but do you ever stop to think that more than that, God likes you too? He really does. He takes delight in us with gladness it says. He sees the deep, dark places of our heart that we keep hidden, and He still likes us and wants to be around us. So many of us keep those parts hidden from others because we think, “If they knew this about me, they wouldn’t like me.” God knows you and I are broken and have sin nature lurking inside. He wants to bring healing to those places, and calm our fears about them. Fear does not come from Him. It comes from not understanding who we are in Him and who He wants to be in our lives.

This verse then ends with a bang! God rejoices over you and sings joyful songs over you. Psalm 32:7 says that the songs God sings are to deliver us and to bring us victory. Just like a parent sings songs to their kids, God sings to us. He knows that wherever we go or whatever we do, we need His comfort, His protection and His victory. Today, God is present with you. He is mighty enough to save you from whatever you’re facing. Listen for His voice that will calm your fears as He sings over you. Because of this, every day has the potential to be a great day. We just need to keep this verse in mind so we can understand how God sees us and know that He both loves us and likes us.

Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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June 29, 2022 · 5:55 AM

Feeling Loved

Have you ever felt unloved? It’s a tough place to be in. I believe feeling loved is one of our basic needs. When we’ve been rejected and feel unloved, we begin to shut down and withdrawal. I’ve been in that place before wondering what was wrong with me. I’ve read where there was an experiment with babies. The nurses gave love and attention to half the newborns in the experiment and only gave milk to the others. The ones who were loved thrived and were healthy. The ones who weren’t became sick and some died. There is an innate need for love in all of us. It’s important to know where to get that need filled as well.

In Daniel 10, he was given his final vision. In it he saw a man standing near a river who he describes as so powerful his strength left his body. This being lifted him up and said, “Daniel, God loves you. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you” (GNT). It’s incredible that his first words were to remind Daniel that he was loved. Daniel again felt weak as the angel spoke to him. Verse 19 says the angel came over and said, “‘God loves you, so don’t let anything worry you or frighten you.’ When he had said this, I felt even stronger and said, ‘Sir, tell me what you have to say. You have made me feel better.’”

Feeling loved changes everything and gives us strength. I want you to know today that God loves you. It is a deeper, more complete love than you could ever feel or receive from another person. When we’re feeling unloved, and even unlovable, we need to remind ourselves that God loves us despite how far we’ve run or even what we’ve done. His love for us isn’t based on anything we’ve done or will do. He loves you simply because He created you and you’re His child. You need to let that sink into your spirit and mind today. I’m linking a song by Jon Gibson that is catchy and will play over and over in your mind to remind you that God loves you. If you’re struggling with feeling loved today, listen to it and let it saturate your mind and spirit.

Photo by Alexei Maridashvili on Unsplash

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December 14, 2021 · 5:33 AM

Emmanuel

Around Christmas time, I remember an old song we used to sing at church by Don Moen. “Emmanuel. Emmanuel. His name is called Emmanuel. Emmanuel. God with us. Revealed in us. His name is Emmanuel.” Simple, yet powerful as it reminds us of God’s plan to save the world. I thought about the meaning of it the other night when we, as a family, sat down, looked at our nativity and talked through all the people in it. By doing this activity, we each gained more insight and perspective into what has become a common Christmas symbol, but is truly the greatest display of love the world has ever seen.

Since the Garden of Eden, sin had reigned on the earth. It brought death and decay with it. Man had no ability to conquer it. When God looked on our helpless estate, He didn’t condemn us to an eternity In hell. Rather, He displayed His love by sending His one and only Son into the world, not to condemn it, but that through Him the world might be saved (John 3:16-17). He became one of us in order to reach us, to break the curse of sin and to end its rule. If you remember, while He was in the tomb, He took the keys of death, hell and the grace removing its power over our lives. He ushered in a wave of grace to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves.

Romans 8:3b says, “Yet God sent us his Son in human form to identify with human weakness. Clothed with humanity, God’s Son gave his body to be the sin-offering so that God could once and for all condemn the guilt and power of sin”. Jesus, coming to earth as depicted in the manger scene, is God reaching out, identifying with us and ultimately sacrificing Himself so we could be together. Emmanuel is a powerful word that concisely tells the story of Christmas. You are loved immensely by your creator. He didn’t come to condemn you. He came to save you because there is no way to save yourself.

Photo by Dan Kiefer on Unsplash

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December 2, 2021 · 5:30 AM

The Birth Of Grace

I’ve got a friend who, when he sees people with a sour face, likes to say, “Smile! God’s in a good mood.” It usually takes them a second to hear what he said, then they laugh or smile. Many of us think of God as this angry, Old Testament figure who is sitting up in Heaven speaking in old English and is looking for someone to smite. As a result, we try to live a smite free life that makes us miserable.

If God is always angry, why did He give us the gift of His Son? I can tell you that when I’m upset or angry with someone, giving them a life changing gift is not an idea floating around in my head. In the Old Testament, we had a pact with God where we would do our part to keep the relationship open through sacrifice, but we constantly fell short. That did make God angry and upset. How do you feel when someone breaks a promise to you? No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t do it.

Out of love, God decided to establish a New Covenant between us. One where when we fall short on our end, Jesus makes up the difference. His birth was also the birth of grace. It announced that God would make a way to reestablish the relationship between He and us. His desire has always been that we would know Him, and go to live with Him for eternity. To take the burden off of us trying to keep our part, He sent Jesus.

John 3:16-17 says, ““For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (NLT). Smile! That’s good news. This Christmas, celebrate the birth of grace into our world. Live your life in response to God’s love for you rather than out of the fear of being smitten.

Photo by Dan Kiefer on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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November 3, 2020 · 6:00 AM

Easy To Please

I’ve worked for some people that were easy to please, and I’ve also worked for some that were hard to please. One of my bosses said to me, “Chris, I wish I had five guys just like you working here.” I replied, “Wow! Thanks.” Sternly he looked at me and said, “It wasn’t a compliment. I have twenty of you right now.” It was funny, but I don’t know to this day if he was joking or not. I was always afraid to ask questions for fear I would get in trouble, or worse, ridiculed. I’ve had other bosses who I thought were going to be tough to please when I met them, but once I got to know them, they were a lot different than I had thought. One of those was seriously invested in my future and helped me advance all throughout my career. My preconceived notions changed once I got to know him.

One of my first preconceived notions of God was that He was this old guy in Heaven, with a long white beard, looking down ready to blast me for messing up. I often felt that His love for me was dependent on my performance, much like some of the bosses I’ve had. As long as I did things the right way, He was happy with me. If I messed up, He was ready to rain down hell fire and brimstone on me. However, the more I’ve gotten to know Him, the more I’ve found what Paul discovered in Romans 8. Nothing can stop Him from loving me. Like a parent, He loves me as His child and is not waiting for me to mess up. On the contrary, He’s there wanting me to excel, to grow and to be ho He created me to be.

David discovered this about God too. In Psalm 25:8, he wrote, “When people turn to you, they discover how easy you are to please—so faithful and true! Joyfully you teach them the proper path, even when they go astray” (TPT). God is not impossible to please. In fact, He’s easy to please, and He’s not ready to smite you when you mess up. Joyfully, He’s ready to help you back up and point you to the right path. He knows our weaknesses, our propensities and our failures, and He loves us still. The plan He has for us is hard at times, but He’s right there cheering us on and giving us instructions on how to complete it. You don’t have to fear losing His love over your faults. You don’t have to hide your mistakes or be afraid to ask Him for help. He loves you and is cheering you on as you go through life. Like a good father, He’s easy to please.

Photo by Peter Dlhy on Unsplash

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October 21, 2015 · 5:30 AM

You’re Not BER (Video)

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Romans 5:8 (NLT)

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October 23, 2014 · 8:03 AM

Eternal Life Through Eternal Love

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NLT)

The most famous of all scriptures is John 3:16. If there was one verse that summed up the whole Bible, that would have to be it. The whole story of the Bible is a one sided love story. One side gives and gives in order to show how much they love the other. That love is mostly not reciprocated. When it’s not, the gifts of love become greater and greater until the Father gives the best gift He can possibly give. He gives up the one thing that is everything to Him in order to show how much He loves us. He gave His son to us.

We are the ones being wooed by the Father. We are the ones who have rejected His gifts of love towards us. We know that He has out best interest at heart, but for some reason we run from it. We turn to temporary things looking to fill the need for an eternal love. Only the One who is eternal can give us that kind of love. Only the One who uses the earth as His footstool can fill the whole in our lives. That’s why He gave us His son.

The second half of that verse says that whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to and relies on His son, will not perish or be lost. We have to receive that gift that He sent us. We have to be the ones who no longer reject the love He is trying to show us. In turn, we need to embrace that gift. Jesus said that God loves each person so much that He doesn’t want any of us to be lost or perish. His goal is that we would all accept His gift.

When we do, we will have eternal life. That what God gives. Life. He breathed man’s first breath into his nostrils to give him life and has been trying to do the same thing spiritually since. Until we accept God son Jesus, we are like Adam was before God breathed in him. We need that breath in order to receive eternal life. The life we live is but a vapor in comparison to eternity. What we do in the short time determines how we spend eternity. Do we accept His gift which brings life or do we reject it and suffer the alternative?

Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. (NLT)” That how each one of receives the gift that God gave us. That how we accept a love that is unconditional. This love story doesn’t have to end in tragedy. It doesn’t have to end with only one side giving unreturned love. We can love Him because He first loved us.

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November 20, 2013 · 7:38 AM

He Loves Us Anyway

I’m broken this morning by the goodness of God. I’m overwhelmed at how much He loves us. The more I think about it, the more broken I become. The David Crowder song “How He Loves Us” is playing in my mind and I keep breaking down as the lyrics sink in. “He is jealous for me, loves likes a hurricane. I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.” Today, I’m that tree that is bent over because I’m blown away at how much He loves us. We’ve not given Him any reason to. We’ve done everything that we can to push Him away, but He loves us anyway.

That kind of love is hard for me to grasp. How can He still love us when we treat Him like a genie, hurt others that He loves dearly and live our lives for ourselves? Just about everything we do should give Him a reason not to love us. Yet He shows His mercy in each sunrise. He offers His grace with each new dawn. How many mornings have I just taken His love, grace and mercy for granted? How many times has He painted the sky with His love for me and I missed it because I was too busy looking for other things besides Him? But He loves me anyway.

The song “The More I Seek You” by Kari Jobe comes to mind. “This love is so deep, it’s more than I can stand. I melt in your peace, it’s overwhelming.” I’m experiencing those feelings today, yet I believe it should be an every day thing. I should be overwhelmed day by day at just how good God is to me. I should be overflowing with thankfulness at the blessings He’s given me. I should be thankful for breath and life each morning. I should be honored that He spends time with me each day and walks with me. Instead, I treat those things like an all too familiar routine of motions that I go through each day. Even then, He loves me anyway.

When is the last time you stopped and just rested in God’s love? When is the last time you went swimming in His grace? Have you stood still long enough for Him to give you the embrace He wants to give you? His arms are open wide and He’s looking right at you today. His eyes are filled with love for you. He’s calling out your name. Can you hear it? He wants so little from us and yet offers unending love so freely. He’s patient when we’re too busy to stop and let Him love us. He’s good to us when we’ve done nothing to deserve it. He doesn’t care how many times we’ve brushed Him off or pushed Him aside. He loves you more than you are capable of understanding. No matter what you’ve done, He loves you anyway.

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